Our blog is to journal our decision to take a life changing journey. It began with how we made the decision to sell everything we own and go "country shopping". Our travels have already taken us across the US, Aruba, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, and Mexico. After a month in Mexico, we made the decision to live full time in Puerto Vallarta. Continue on the journey of figuring it all out with us!

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

In 2014, we showed that you could live a very good life style for
$25,000/year, if you weren't lavish and chose where you eat and drink
out. We took advantage of Cupocity discounts on meals, tours, massages,
etc. We also determined where we get the best bang for our buck, which
allows us to eat and drink out with our friends. We are social people
and gathering with friends is very important to us. (See Year End Budget
posted in mid December, 2014 located in Archives) Living Expenses are
broken out separately from Discretionary Spending. We are fortunate that
we have some discretionary income and make no apology for spending it.

As
we also knew would happen, our family and friends would start visiting
us and the winter months would see us eating out and going on excursions
more with them. My daughter and her family were here for 16 days in
January, and several friends came to town to spend time with us. It
definitely shows in our expenditures for these 2 month!

We
also had the opportunity to meet up with friends from Nicaragua in
Mexico City for a week in February and while we were already up in the
"highlands" of Mexico, we decided to come back by bus and visit San
Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, and Leon. A beautiful part of this
wonderful country!

The month of January also brought us
the expenditures of washing machine repair ($232), camera repairs
($10), more of Mike's dental woes (a new crown, reconstruction of
previous crown preparation performed in Costa Rica, & a tooth
pulled =
$742), and Mike needing to visit a chiropractor twice for adjustments
that couldn't be dealt with in a massage ($73). We also took a 3 day
side excursion to Yelapa with family and incurred hotel expenses and a
more expensive water taxi ride plus all meals out.

But,
we are extremely happy that everyone wants to come see us!! This was
part of our decision to live here. We knew it was easier and more
alluring for them to come here to PV than any other location we
considered. So it is what it is and we make no apologies for enjoying
our family and friends.

In March, our expenditures went
back to normal. EXCEPT we had decided back in December, 2014 to
purchase excellent seat tickets ($300) to the Santana/Journey concert in
Guadalajara for March 26. The total of the expenditures including the
tickets, tours of Guadalajara, meals out, our stay in a B&B, gas,
taxes, busses, etc. are all accounted for.

April shows
we have come out of high season and back to well below our goal budget
for Living Expenses. This was also due to our renegotiating our lease
here in our apartment. Because we have been an asset to our landlord,
which allows him to spend more time with his family in the states, he
agreed to allow us to sign a 15 month lease with 3 months of free rent
during the low season so we could travel a bit more without moving. We
all agreed to a steady cash flow over the 15 months of $800/month.

Restaurant
Week(s) are held in May. This is where many restaurants have a special
set 3 course meal for well below the cost of a normal meal at their
establishment. We took advantage of eating at several restaurants that
would normally be well out of our budget. We also attended a charity
function called The International Altruism Festival, which had 35
restaurants represented there. Also as a result of several friends
coming to town, we ate out way above normal for a whopping 18 times!

In
May, we also took advantage of the low cost medical clinics that are
provided by Pam Thompson-Webb of www.healthcareresourcespv.com. So Mike
and I both had our ears checked for a cost of $46US for both of us. Mike
had an ear infection, so we had medication to purchase for $3US. I also
took advantage of getting a Shingles Vaccine at a local hospital for
the low cost of $157US (it's about $400-$500 in the US).

In
June, we traveled the whole month, which is why there aren't any
expenses except our rent in the Living Expenses category. Our journey
took us to Cancun, where we spoke at the 10th Annual International
Living Retire Overseas Conference; then on to Playa del Carmen for a
week; then to MA & CT to visit family and friends; and down to
Raleigh, NC to visit with family. On June 30, we flew to WA, which is
where we were until July 17. This is our annual US visit from coast
to coast. An expensive trip but with family spread out all over the US,
it's very necessary.

The month of August saw us back into a "regular" routine. No having to stock up because we'd been gone, no visiting friends or family, just a normal month of living at home in PV. So you see, you CAN live reasonably here and still enjoy life.

The one change we did make in August, was our insurance situation. After more research, we chose to switch to a company (WEA) where both of us could be covered globally (except US). We chose a $3mil, $2,500 deductible plan for each of us. Our combined premium equates to the $322/month (we paid one full year to avoid extra servicing charges).

The Living Expenses are our true
living expenses and we could easily have a good life on just this
amount. However, we are fortunate and do have some discretionary income,
which we gladly use to have an even better life. So just because you
might not have this additional income, doesn't mean you can't enjoy life
here in PV.

Living
Expenses:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

Rent w/util

$1,000

$1,000

$1,000

$800

$800

$800

$800

$800

Electric

$24

$-

$23

$-

$45

$33

Cell Phone

$42

$40

$39

$-

$14

$65

Groceries

$227

$219

$249

$143

$231

$378

$151

Meals Out

$448

$292

$240

$183

$420

$112

$258

Drinks Only

$161

$154

$95

$238

$144

$116

$169

Entertainment

$60

$57

$105

$33

$-

$65

$87

Massages

$101

$20

$40

$33

$33

$43

$31

Bus/Taxi

$64

$55

$15

$25

$50

$10

$16

Dental Cleaning

$33

$80

$-

$33

Incidentals

$25

$18

$82

$25

$78

$20

$51

TOTAL

$2,185

$1,935

$1,888

$1,480

$1,848

$800

$1,642

$1,563

TOTAL W/O RENT

$1,185

$935

$888

$680

$1,048

$-

$842

$763

Discr Spending:

Visas/Legal

$-

$-

$146

Clothes/Shoes/Gifts

$13

$32

$27

$162

$63

Medical/Life Ins.

$211

$211

$211

$211

$211

$211

$211

$322

Tours

$87

$60

Home Improve

$420

$171

$57

$75

$65

$53

$131

Medical

$237

$221

$48

Dental

$742

Air Travel

Trips/Vacations

$180

$2,459

$684

$2,685

$2,655

Car Rental/Gas

Spanish Lessons

TOTAL Discr.

$1,890

$2,933

$979

$448

$560

$2,896

$2,967

$599

TOTAL ALL

$4,075

$4,868

$2,867

$1,928

$2,408

$3,696

$4,609

$2,162

*Drinks Only (in PV only): January 11x; February 9x; March 7x; April 15x; May 11x; July 9x; August 15x
*Meals Out (in PV only): January 12x; February 10x; March 9x; April 8x; May 18x; July 6x; August 9x
*Our
Rent includes 1br/1ba; dipping pool; view of Bay; fully furnished with
everything you need; cable TV, internet, water; excludes electric.
*I
do not include health insurance as a Living Expense because many expats
choose not to have insurance. It was our choice to have it.

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About Me

In July, 2012, my husband, Mike, and I embarked on a life changing adventure. We sold everything we own and began a journey to find a new country to call "Home". Follow along with us as we tell you our story...